theThe rev Rev & haringeyHaringey Unchained& unchainedin collaboration with Durham University mightieryoung pens are even mightier VOLUME SIX A MAGAZINE BY CREATIVITYUNLEASHED The Rev and Haringey Unchained with special guest Durham University Over the 2021 academic year, while global efforts to combat Covid-19 increased, students from Haringey Sixth Form College (H6FC) in London, Durham University in England and Russell Sage College in Troy, New York met every two weeks virtually to explore their new normal through the creative arts. A programme of workshops and talks from innovative professionals in the culture sector inspired them to editorialise the work of their communities. They came together to create this year’s Haringey Unchained, a special edition with Russell Sage College’s literary arts magazine: The Rev. This is why you will see a synthesis of British and American English throughout this magazine. Our group also partnered with Durham University through Edith Sandulescu, a previous Haringey Unchained editor. Now in its seventh year and sixth volume, this edition is a true testament to the spirit of our communities as we face a world without in-person arts – a world upturned by social and political change, a global pandemic and individual loss. Our editorial teams selected contributions from over 350 submissions. The final product here is what we believe reflects the key concerns and celebrations of these voices. Inside, you can find the following: - Poetry - Fiction - Nonfiction - Photography - Illustration/Drawing - Painting - Collage - Digital Artwork The editors of Haringey Unchained were invited to serve as panel judges for the Middlesex University Fairtrade Fortnight Spoken Word Competition to promote climate change awareness. The winning entry can be found on page 96. Issue Six This year also saw a huge development in the overall project that was initially Haringey Unchained, a collective of students showcasing the creative talent of H6FC. Now, these Haringey Unchained alumni, developing professionals in their own fields, have come together to form a not- for-profit: CreativityUnleashed. This new independent organisation Meet the disseminates the Haringey Unchained model more widely, working to connect young people across oceans, to show the power of the creative arts to break boundaries, to make supportive links for future careers and to participate in our global context. This year, the CreativityUnleashed editors’ leadership enabled all participating schools to produce this beautiful and comprehensive magazine. TeamsThe Rev Team: - Emily Boehm – Copy Editor In addition to all of the schools that have facilitated this project, we would · Hunter Chaney – Fiction Editor also like to thank the following professionals whose workshops and talks · Noah Dougherty – General Editor inspired our magazine every step of the way: · Cassandra McMullin – Poetry Editor · Daniela Withington – Art Editor - Zena Alkayat, Founder of Bloom Magazine, London UK · Angie Smith – Lead Staff from Russell Sage College, Writing Teacher - Michelle Bowen, Artist, New York USA and Founder of CreativityUnleashed - John Canfield, Poet, London UK - Tanner Efinger, Founding Artistic Director of Haringey Unchained Team: Breadcrumbs Productions, New York USA · Stefana Craciun – Poetry Editor - Patrick Heagney, Artist and Professional Photographer, Georgia USA · Abeeha Hassnain – Fiction Editor - Alex Thomson, Novelist, Welwyn Garden City England · Maysoon Sheikh – General Editor - TJ Volgare, Screenwriter and Film Director, North Carolina USA · Amir Tubekan – Art Editor · Emma Chambers – Lead Staff from Haringey Sixth Form College, Stipends for workshop presenters and talks and publication of the printed English Teacher version of The REV/Haringey Unchained were funded by Russell Sage College’s Carol Ann Donahue Endowed Fund. CreativityUnleashed Team: · Lina Charki – Poetry Co-Editor Cover artwork by Eva Moss from Durham University. · Ozge Erdur – General Editor · Heather Gilchrist – Fiction Editor Visit our website: www.creativity-unleashed.org for further information · Mariah John-Leighton – Art Co-Director and to see all of the other incredible pieces we didn’t have space to publish · Andreea Pavel – General Editor in print. Follow us on instagram: @creativityunleashed_org. Haringey · Monika Reich – Art Co-Director & Web Manger Unchained can still be found at: www.haringeyunchained.com. · Edith Sandulescu – Chief Editor Durham University & Flat-Plan Manager · Joseph Unadike – Magazine Launch Production Manager · Amina Yussuf – Poetry Co-Editor 2 3 Dear 2020 Woodhouse College Ollie Opara www.linktr.ee/OliviaOpara Dear 2020, You brought us cheers That turned to fears Of a third world war And wildfires none foresaw. You gave us a pandemic And everyone shopped in panic A world-wide lockdown Everyone must mind their own. You handed theYou young handed bravery the young bravery To battle 400 yearsTo battle of slavery 400 years of slavery Shouting with allShouting their might with all their might To save all our humanTo save rights. all our human rights. You offered us a short repreve So we could all finally breathe Yet you smiled with glee As you worsened our reality. You granted us mercy By making things easier And everything seemed okay Like when I found my father, Clay. You shunned us forYou our shunned joy us for our joy And, oh, you were soAnd, coy oh, you were so coy Leading up to ourLeading festivities up to our festivities You raised all ourYou anxieties. raised all our anxieties. Haringey Sixth Form College You awarded us with struggle Chloe DeSilva @chloe_de_silva And showed us lots of trouble So now we’ve all grown Next year, better seeds will be sown. 4 5 DRAWING POETRY FrustrationJoseph Unadike CreativityUnleashed @joewrites You see this week I’ve seen something I’ve seen a black man plead for his life As he yells numerous “I can’t breathes” Words that mean nothing Every cry of “I can’t breathe” I watched breathlessly A life taken by another man’s knee mercilessly Now I’m breathless And with my dying breath I continue to speak up Speak up for those oppressed Those who walk the streets Streets with melanated skin In fear of the white man Whose finger inches to pull the trigger A trigger to pierce your melanated skin Nina speaks of strange fruits Blood on the leaves I wonder why Why the darker berry continues to be squeezed Freedom Flies Squeezed and hung dry Jodi Lynn Russell Sage College Yet they expect my fruits to stay sweet The revolution will be televised I stay restless because racism still exists My black skin is still a target The preacher utters “Here lies the deceased” Tears of Mothers and Daughters now released This black boy from South London Permanently put to sleep 6 7 PHOTOGRAPHY POETRY Self Image CreativityUnleashed Heather Gilchrist @heather__gilchrist Her hair, touched by the sun falls effortlessly A prison set to her own design into place, there is no room to call her mine shaping her pale face as she looks to me with grace. Decorated with hatred, every compliment is negated Her blue eyes call to me like a siren as I fall deeper and deeper into her gaze. Cold and alone any help is thrown, I catch myself gasping she believes her fate is sown as if the icy sea has found its way into me and into my heart. Possessed by stubbornness I am pulled in to her ocean eyes. she guides herself with a dooming compass Blind and deaf to herself, there is no helping She is made from star dust as she dances her alone underneath the sky, as the darkness inside her prison begins to wishing the stars could hear her battle cry stir every compliment, for she dances to the hum of the earth, and awareness begins to blur to the drum of her Power. … She knows too much and yet speaks so little Her hair falls effortlessly into place. that in her stillness I find myself yearning for her voice Her blue eyes call to me. to speak truths to me, to tell me the old rhymes, She is made from star dust. to tell me things are going to be alright. She knows too much but speaks so little. Her hands are gentle and soft to the touch as she sews and weaves marvellous stories Her hands are gentle and soft. that makes me lose all my worries while she lives in purgatory. She lives in a prison of her own design. She lives in purgatory… I cannot call her mine. Form Haringey Sixth Form College Kiera Robinson-Brown @itsofficialkeke 8 9 DRAWING POETRY Unfinished Girl CreativityUnleashed Mariah John-Leighton "Time. They say that time Time. They say that time heals all wounds. But years later, the scars remain. heals all wounds. But years Physically, no, my arms and stomach no longer resemble a galaxy wallpaper that people use for a computer screen background. The precise lines dotted across my body are now later, the scars remain." faint, almost invisible to outsiders. I no longer wear those large crimson handprints as a I was his prized possession, his unruly stallion. That’s what he called me. He used to choker. The battle scars on my body have faded, along with that rose-coloured attitude. tell me how I would be more loveable once broken. More refined, he said. Defeated, he The words though, I’m still healing from them. Whoever said sticks and stones may break meant. The best stallions are the toughest to break, he told me. And boy did he break me. my bones, but words can never harm me, clearly have never encountered a man like him. If I were a marble slab, he would be the sculptor chiselling away at my stone. The more time I spent with him, the more pieces of me crumbled. Until I became a masterpiece in The words hissed at me, slithered from the serpent’s tongue, wormed their way through his image.